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Author Archives: Andrew Williamson

A small group of Grade 6 and 5 students were set a creative task today that focussed on developing their understanding of visual perspective. The purpose is for students to develop an understanding on how they can manipulate their surroundings so that the viewers perspective of the image is challenged. The students also needed to draw on their excellent ICT skills to get the final artefact completed.

This is how the task was set out.

In groups of 3s or 4s, compose a perspective photograph.

You can use props, landscape, their bodies and shadows.

You have 20 minutes to take photos.

It’s better to have one good photo, than a bunch of photos which aren’t successful.

For the past 6 weeks the grade 1/2’s have been focusing on the music idea of pulse aka/sometimes known as the beat. Through a series of musical games and activities such as the world famous ‘Rhythm Detectives’ and ‘Whats The Time Mr Wolf!?’, the students have been embodying pulse as an essential musical element.

Taking things to another level, the students were then set a task of working in small collaborative groups to compose a short rhythmic composition using a 4 count grid.

Stage one, was to compose the Grid Rhythms using body percussion and rehearse to perform in front of the class.

Stage two was to then apply the body percussion to small handheld classroom percussion instruments. Essential to making this work was the students ability to apply their sense of pulse so that they could rehearse and perform together.

Please listen to some of he amazing compositions below and don’t forget to comment. The students love the feedback!

This term grade 3/4 students have been learning music through song, movement and performing. Here is 3/4 A singing the song ‘I’ve Got A Rhythm’. This song forms the basis of the music that the students are going to learning and ultimately perform as an ensemble using tuned and untuned percussion instruments.

For the past 5 weeks grade 1/2 students have been participating in various musical games and activities that involve them experiencing pulse or beat. They have played games such as ‘Rhythm detectives’, ‘What’s The Time Mr Wolf’ and Concentration Elimination. Each of these games require the students to keep a steady pulse to play the game. The students have learnt so far that knowing where the pulse/beat in music resides, is vital for a group of musicians to play together.

Over the next few weeks the students will be working in groups to compose a short rhythmic composition using a 4 count grid. This week they began thinking up interesting body percussion and voice sounds to include in their grids. Once the students have composed and mastered their body percussion pieces they will perform them to the class. The next step is for the students to then use hand held percussion instruments instead of body percussion. The students will then rehearse and perform them to the class. Hopefully these performances will also be recorded and posted on this blog.

The grade 5/6 students officially started their recording projects last week. Over the next 4-5 weeks the students will be collecting numerous sounds from around the school. These sounds will form the basis of a larger soundscape or rhythmic composition.

The learning intention of this session was to experiment with the hardware and software to discover the limitations and possibilities. The students had to work in pairs using Garageband on the iPad to record a series of sounds and see if they could loop them into a short rhythmic piece of music.

Wow! When I watch this amazing video of the Bell Biennale by Steven Pam it felt like it was yesterday the festival happened. Thank you so much Steven for putting this together. You have really captured the moment and the overall feeling of the festival. Argh the rain! We are so glad that Steven captured the weather with the majestic sounds of the Balinese Gamelan DanAnda in the opening sequence. Reflecting back, Chelsea and I feel that the weather in some way enabled a shared struggle that bonded the school community around the festival.

The grade 1 and 2’s have been working in whole class and small collaborative groups to compose music to a variety of stimuli. This week they have started to compose music inspired by Japanese Haiku poems. This week the students were set a task to compose a soundscape that captures the atmosphere and mood of the Haiku Gnats.

Gnats come as cloud

and then spread out over

the coolness of the pool

Please listen to a sample of these soundscapes by grade 1/2M more from the other grades will be posted when they have finished.

Bell Biennale time!

The 3-6 students have been furiously working on their art works and composition performances getting them ready for the big day on June the 4th. The creative output from the students has just been amazing. Thank you so much to the parents who have been donating their time to help out with some of the preparations. There are still a number of volunteer spots available for putting tape on 5/6 costumes, decorating the music room on the 3rd of June, putting up and taking down displays. Please check bit.ly/bbvolunteers for details.

Things to know and think about:

Whole school plus the community are invited to the Opening Ceremony begins at 2:30 on the Basketball Crt (weather permitting).

After the opening ceremony students will return to class where they will be dismissed by their teachers.

Whole school plus community are invited to view the art exhibition in the Learning Centre.

The 3-6 classrooms will be open for the whole school to visit. On display will be examples of student learning undertaken as part of their Our Asian Neighbours Inquiry Unit.

Programs will be distributed to the 3-6 students. Parents and friends of the P-2 students will be able to pick up a program at the information centre at the shelter shed.

Coffee & Tea will be available and can be purchased from the Coffee Van next to the Information Centre. Hot drinks will not be allowed into any of the buildings.

Only Parents and Family members of 3-6 students will be eligible to see the music performances. This is due to the limited space available for an audience. Please make sure that parents and family bring their preallocated coloured ticket which will will gain you entry into the performance space.

There will be student and teacher marshals positioned throughout the school to help with directing people to the various exhibition spaces.

Please make sure that you leave a comment with the cherry blossom tree situated at the learning centre entrance.

Prep-2 students are not missing out! They are going to have their Celebrations Concert in term 4. Prep-2 students are also invited to wear an Asian Inspired Costume on the day of the Biennale June the 4th.

Only 2 and a bit weeks to go and the grades 3-6 students have been engaged in some intense creativity preparing there small group compositions. Check out these 3/4 students in full creative swing as they compose their ‘Javanese Gamelan’ inspired music.